grinchy stuff...

I’m not exactly the grinch, but I have not liked Christmas for a long time - there always seems to be way more hype than it’s worth and all I really want is to spend time with my family. My kids and their SO’s are all grown and are financially stable and when they want something they buy it so it has become increasingly difficult and stressful for me to put together Christmas, between trying to think of something they’d like, finding the time to shop and all that (not to mention getting a magazine ready at the same time). I decided to simplify Christmas this year and, instead, sponsor a local family through Children’s Aid and be a Secret Santa – the money I would have spent on my family, who doesn’t need it, can be put toward a very needy family. One of the best things about it was when I told my boys and their wives, they were all enthused and asked if they could help too! So we sort of divided up the list of essentials and the secret family’s wish list - the top of the list was ‘food is highly needed’ - and it’s put a whole new meaning on Christmas this year.

A couple of weeks ago, my friend Dana told me he was going to make shopping bags (Take an Old Bag Shopping, No 44) for everyone on his Christmas list, 20 in all - I thought, boy, that’s a big list and a lot of knitting, but, you know, I think it’s one of the best gifts I ever given - everyone I gave one to has just totally loved it and mentioned it several times, so what? - I’m in! I started making my list of people who would deserve, like, and appreciate one and before I knew it, I had 16 people...I rounded up all my part cones of Cannele and Bonita -some bags may end up striped - but I’ll have depleted a shelf and made room for new stuff! I can make a bag in 50 minutes (45 min. for a boy bag - no picots and usually a darker colour, brown or navy - I’m already out of black - and actually I’m favouring the boy bags myself) so I’ve made a pact with myself to either make one at the start of my knitting day or at the end - and if I don’t have time for the entire bag, I’ll make handles and stockpile them on garter bars - they have to be made before getting into the bag and by doing a bunch in a row, it makes it quicker....6 down, 10 to go...I’ll keep you posted!

I haven’t had a Christmas tree for the past 15 years and guess what? well, I didn’t actually put up a tree, but I went out and bought some fairy lights to decorate something, out on the deck in front of the patio doors. My little ones, Nate and Nana, will love it!

what every brother knitter should know...

I’m not going to name all the names, but, this problem occurs every now and then - usually involving a tuck pattern. I get a bunch of emails or frantic phone calls from knitters insisting that there must be a mistake in the pattern. The first question I ask - what machine are you using? but I already know the answer... ‘my brother’...of course.
This time, the pattern in question was ‘Take an old bag shopping’ , our ‘go green’ shopping bag from No 44 (also see April 2008, 'a bag or two'). The original one was done on a Passap by Pat Holbrook - oops, I said I wasn’t going to mention any names - I was so intrigued with the idea of the stretchy, mesh fabric that was created, I converted the pattern for the Japanese machines. But, I never said I was perfect! I guess I figured all brother knitters would know about needles out of work and the end needle selection thing and I forgot to mention it. If this has caused you grief, I apologize.
So, here it is (and a few other pointers) in BLOCK CAPS!!
1. When working with every other needle or needles out of work, such as tuck lace - DO NOT USE END NEEDLE SELECTION - set to KCll instead. If you use KCl, the needles beside the out of work needle become an end needle and you will get no pattern on that needle. So, think about it - this applies to any time you have needles out of work - tuck lace or even a double bed pattern, when there are needles on the rib bed to fill in the empty needle on the main bed... what I do is a dry run or ‘air knitting’. No yarn, bring out some needles. Pass the carriage across to put the needles in B position. Go outside the turn mark, set to KC1 to select the pattern, and move the carriage across. Look at what you have. For a regular tuck pattern, most of the needles will be brought out. These will be knit stitches. The needles left in B will be the tucked stitches if the pattern is properly entered... if it doesn’t look right, you may need to reverse the needle selection or, in the needles out of work scenario, set the carriage for KCll and voilà, you have your tuck pattern!! Use this to make sure you have the correct needles in work for tuck lace also.
2. Contrary to popular belief, you CAN ‘read/select’ the pattern from EITHER side of the machine - it does NOT have to be from the left side only.
3. On the 970, when programming in your own lace pattern (i.e. one that is not built-in), because there is no actual option for doing this, enter the pattern or download it as a 2 colour fairisle. You will have no memo information, so you need to pay attention and know when to use the lace carriage for transfers and when to knit rows with the knit carriage. Sometimes you may need to flip the pattern horizontally - DAK flips it automatically for you but you don’t want that for lace. In the patterns in KNITWORDS, we show the pattern the way it should be entered on your punchcard, mylar or screen.
4. That funny little wire thingy on the tension mast - that is a sub take-up spring, used for your fine yarn to add extra tension for thread lace knitting. Put the thin yarn in the left side and then into this spring.
There’s sure to be some other things...stay tuned!

a bag or two

I forgot to tell you yesterday - I made a couple of the shopping bags from No 44 to take with me to give to my sister and sister-in-law as a hostess gift. When I went to San Diego in February, I made one, used it as my carry-on bag (purse, extra shoes, book, camera, etc) and then gave it to my friend Candy - she loved it! So I figured I'd stick with a winner and churn out a few more, one navy and one plum, good goes-with-anything colours. They are pretty quick to make, I have it down to about 50 minutes if uninterrupted. I have been knitting the handles tighter (T5) and a bit wider (12 sts) because I found the first one stretched out too much. Also, at the end, after knitting the side, instead of taking the whole 160 sts off on waste yarn and then having to rehang to join, try this: set to hold and bring half to hold. Knit waste yarn on the half left in work and drop off. With garter bar, take side-in-hold half off, turn and rehang with right side facing you. Now rehang the waste yarn side, putting right sides together. This eliminates having to rehang all 160 sts from waste yarn. After this, I think I'm going to start knitting them on my Brother machine so I can use the lace carriage for the every other needle thing, that should cut out several extra minutes times four!! Or, maybe a new challenge, figure out how to do the lace carriage trick quickly with the Silver Reed!! I'll keep you posted!